December is traditionally a time for celebration with family and friends. It is a time for gratefulness and joy, but the realities for some are vastly different this holiday season. For some of you, your dreams of a cozy and festive family gathering may or may not come true. Many of you feel sadness, anxiety, or depression because of your circumstances. You may feel alone or disconnected, which is difficult this time of year. You can choose how you respond.
The Gift of Gratitude
No matter what your circumstances are, there is one thing that can lift your spirits, and that is Gratitude. You will receive no better gift this holiday season than to decide to find something to be grateful for instead of allowing yourself to focus on what isn’t right. Your thoughts and feelings become your reality, so make them grateful, so you get more of what you want.
Research has Proven that Gratitude will Increase your Happiness and Decrease your Depression.
Researchers have shown that Gratitude can help you feel more positive emotions, allowing you to embrace the good experiences you do have. Gratitude helps you better deal with adversity, decrease depression, and improves your health.
Tips for Feeling Better by Expressing Gratitude.
Gratitude is a way for you to appreciate what you have now instead of always reaching for something new, hoping it will make you happier. It is about focusing on what you have or what is possible and not what you lack. Try applying Gratitude to your past, present, and future.
- Past: Think about your life and reminisce about good memories from your childhood or life or past blessings. Sit in that positive energy of your good memories and notice how good it makes you feel.
- Present: Be mindful of each good thing that happens to you or around you and express Gratitude. It is as simple as being grateful for the beauty of nature that surrounds you or thankful for a friend who called to say hi or appreciating the unconditional love you may feel from your pet. The key is paying attention and noticing how your body feels when you take the take to be grateful for all these simple pleasures in life.
- Future: This is all about having an optimistic attitude for what is ahead. When you set intentions for positive outcomes and express these intentions daily, you will find more come true, giving you more to be grateful for.
Five Simple Steps you Can Take Today to Help Increase your Feelings of Gratefulness.
Notice how you feel as you do any of these activities.
- Write or think about five things you are grateful for today: Five in the morning will kick your day off right. Five at night will help you sleep better.
- Call a friend and thank them: It can be for something as simple as their friendship.
- Send feelings of gratefulness to someone mentally: If you can’t call, think about something nice they have done for you and thank them in your mind’s eye.
- Send a card to a friend or acquaintance: Thank them for their friendship and positive impact on your life.
- Meditate or Pray: When you focus on the present moment and think about love or peace or pray for love and peace, you will feel more of it within your heart.
Want to Learn More About the Benefits of Gratitude?
Below are a few links or summaries on research around Gratitude that will help you truly understand the value.
- Better Physical Health: A 2012 study in Personality and Individual Differences indicated grateful people have fewer aches and pains and are healthier.
- Giving Thanks Can Make Your Happier according to Harvard Health.
- Improved Psychological Health: Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., a leading gratitude researcher, has conducted multiple studies on the link between Gratitude and well-being. His research at Yale, Center for Emotional Intelligence confirms that Gratitude effectively increases happiness and reduces depression.
- Sleep Better: A study published in Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being showed that participants slept better and longer.
- The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology shares this PDF Counting Blessings Versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life